Jon »
01 July 2008 »
In Transportation »
Patrick McGeehan
of the Times City Room Blog reports that
A few business executives have dreamed up a private-sector solution to the problem of secure bicycle parking in New York: the city’s first bikes-only parking lot. They have a space on West 33rd Street. All they need is a corporation willing to pay as much as $200,000 a year to sponsor it.
“We’re really looking for a big number to build something quite spectacular,” said Daniel A. Biederman, president of the 34th Street Partnership. “We want this to be the premier bike parking facility in the country.”
Already, the group has cleared one high hurdle: Stonehenge Management, a developer, has offered a 2,600-square-foot lot next to an apartment building it owns on the north side of 33rd Street between Eighth Avenue and Ninth Avenue, Mr. Biederman said.
The partnership, which is financed by businesses and property owners in a 31-block section of Midtown, has developed a preliminary design for the lot and has ordered up a prototype of the racks it would contain, Mr. Biederman said. At first, it would hold 100 bikes, with room to expand if there is more demand, he said.
A Bikes-Only Parking Lot in Midtown?
Continue reading...
Tags: Bicycles, Transportation
Jon »
06 March 2008 »
In Homeland Security Grant Program, Infrastructure, NYC, New York City, Training, Tunnels, underground systems »
Continue reading...
Tags: DHS, Gothamist, Jen Chung, Michael Chertoff, NYPD, Port Authority, subways, Transportation
Jon »
04 January 2008 »
In Solar, Transportation »
The Swiss Firm MW Line makes solar boats that are ferrying people around lakes and rivers in Switzerland, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The only backup power, apparently, is on-shore charging from the grid. They’re also the shipbuilder for the PlanetSolar project which plans to have a solar-only craft in the water ready for a two-person, 120-day around-the-world trip in 2009. 
The New York Times reported on January 4th that New York Water Taxi, the only operator of Queens/Manhattan and Brooklyn/Manhattan ferry service has cancelled service for the winter - largely because of fuel price increases. That notwithstanding a monthly subsidy from the real estate developers who established Schaefer’s Landing, a high-end project in Williamsburgh. A ferry powered by photovoltaic cells wouldn’t be directly affected, if at all, by petroleum price increases. Given the relatively short distances involved, on-board solar panels and batteries could be supplemented with electricity dockside. If that electricity is generated via wind (often best captured on or near water) or solar, ferry operating costs could be insulated from petroleum price fluctuations.
Continue reading...
Tags: , , Clean Energy, Solar, Transportation, water
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=3c89f027-cb54-4171-a3cf-84b5d28fd18a)
